5 yıl önce

American women won right to vote 100 years ago but is it taken for granted?

The 19th Amendment to the US Constitution passed by Congress on June 4, 1919, gave American women the right to vote.

Reuters

US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) delivers remarks at a reception honouring the 100th anniversary of House passage of the 19th Amendment granting women the right to vote, at the US Capitol in Washington, US May 21, 2019.

One hundred years ago, American women were granted the right to vote, becoming the 27th country to legalise voting rights for women.

A resolution allowing women the right to vote passed both chambers of Congress.

On August 26 1920, the 19th Amendment in the constitution was ratified - prohibiting states to deny the right to vote in the US, based on gender.

While a record number of women are represented in Congress today, only two-thirds of eligible women vote.

"Too many people forget that only 100 years ago women couldn't vote and couldn't participate in government. So I find it discouraging that some women take it for granted and don't exercise their full enfranchisement rights," says Patricia Macdonald, the granddaughter of Suffragist Catherine Flanagan who was arrested when she was protesting in front of the White House in 1917.

TRT World's Sally Ayhan reports from Maryland, US.